[2] It was based on a novel named "O Escravo" ("The Slave") written in 1856 by José Evaristo de Almeida, a Portuguese who was exiled in Cape Verde.
The film takes place during the 19th century during a revolt by Miguelists who were exiled in Cape Verde, and centres on a love triangle between Maria (Vanessa Giácomo), João (Ângelo Torres) and Albano Lopes (Diogo Infante).
Maria is the daughter of a farmer, João is a slave and Albano Lopes is a Miguelist official.
A troop survey of the city of Praia, instigated by officers banished in the archipelago, as a result of a defeat of the partisans by Infante D. Miguel during the Portuguese Civil War, and a historic part of the film.
The rebels, contrary to their own anti-liberal convictions, try to enlist the slaved population into their field, in the absence of other human means that embodies the designs.